


Unbless You

by ohnoshefell



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BWB fic, Brotherhood Without Banners - Freeform, Crossroads, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gendrya - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22139065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohnoshefell/pseuds/ohnoshefell
Summary: Arya has no other choice but to stay with the Brotherhood after the red wedding and her life growing up with them and Gendry at the Crossroads is the adventure she hadn't known she wished for.-or-Another crossroads AU :)
Relationships: Arya Stark & Gendry Waters, Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 47
Kudos: 239





	Unbless You

**Author's Note:**

> One day I'll update my WIP's, but today is not that day.
> 
> Also, for the sake of this fic, Gendry is only like 2 years older than Arya.
> 
> Enjoy xx

She didn't know how she felt about them, about any of them.

They were new, they were strangers and they laughed about things men who liked to drink laughed about.

They were kind, she supposed. They didn't hurt her or Hot Pie or Gendry.

And they might have been holding her for ransom, but they didn't treat her that way.

They seemed more than happy to take her and Gendry in and get them settled into their brotherhood.

She didn't know how she felt about them, about any of them.

But she didn't hate them.

Not yet, anyway.

* * *

The weeks she spends getting to know them are some of the strangest she's ever spent.

Anguy is struck with the belief that he is the greatest bowman there ever was but he's just alright with a sword.

Arya tells him that being alright with a sword is better than whatever Gendry is with a sword.

He laughs, she smiles and Gendry glares at the both of them but lets only Arya see the trace of a smile on his features, even if it's at his own expense.

Tom likes to sing and lets her know she's free to join in when he's singing if a tune she knows ever comes up. She knows most of them, but she keeps quiet and she laughs quietly to herself whenever a line that shouldn't be said in a lady's presence is sung.

Lem is gruff but also kind. He seemed more strict about the fact that Arya was a lady more than anyone else. Probably not as much as Gendry, but close enough.

Beric was kind. He didn't interrupt her when she spoke and even got Anguy to teach her more about archery. He'd often let her carry off with his sword whenever they were in a safer part of the woods or getting nearer to a resting place or heading back to the inn.

She told him all about Needle after a few days, when she started getting more comfortable around them and he let her know he'd keep an eye out for it when he'd go on his hunting trips with Anguy for dinner.

Thoros was... She didn't have a word for what Thoros was. Weird? Eccentric? Thoros was Thoros and that seemed like enough to describe him. It took her the longest to trust Thoros. Well, not trust exactly, but feel a semblance of safety around.

In the weeks prior to truly knowing them, she found she almost always kept up all of her defenses around them.

But time went on and she started speaking more, training more and helping however she could.

She figured this would be alright, it would all be okay. She would be reunited with her mother and Robb soon enough anyways, so what did getting comfortable around or trusting them matter anyways?

She only needed to trust one person and she was almost sure he would be going with her.

It's not like he'd have any reason to stay with the brotherhood.

Besides, she couldn't bother herself with the thought that Gendry would pick anyone else over her.

Why would he?

She was his family. Of that she was certain.

* * *

It had gone different than she thought.

It had gone bad. She hadn't imagined it going bad. 

Not today, not yesterday, not ever.

She thought he wanted to go to Winterfell.

She thought he would follow her anywhere she went. Didn't he know that she would follow him?

She thought she was his family. He had become hers.

But she was wrong. She was so very wrong.

She'd run off into the middle of the woods.

She didn't want to be around him. She didn't want to be around any of them.

She just wanted to go home. She wanted Jon and Nymeria, Bran and Rickon, mother and father, Robb and even Sansa.

She wanted Winterfell and the certainty of safety.

She wanted Gendry to go with her.

The trees around her all started becoming one in the same as branches danced around each other.

The purple sky above her was becoming richer and darker and the moonlight that was beginning to filter through the trees made her think it'd be a perfect night for a wolf to howl.

She found a clearing where water was flowing freely and gently in a stream.

The smooth rhythm of the stream helped her steady her breathing from walking so much and from being so angry.

She hadn't known how long it had been since she left the inn but she thinks long.

She'd never been able to gather her thoughts so clearly before.

Gendry telling her he wasn't going with her reminded her of all the things she hadn't missed about Winterfell.

It reminded her of Sansa and Jeyne picking on her, telling her she was ugly and calling her names like Arya horseface.

It reminded her of how mean Septa Mordane always was to her but absolutely adored anything Sansa ever did.

It made her feel unwanted and made her think if she was a little more like the lady he called her all the time, then maybe he'd follow her after all.

Like the water flowing in front of her, tears streamed down from her eyes.

She hated a lot of things. She hated the Lannisters, she hated Kings Landing and she hated crying.

But above all else, she hated _them._

She hated the brotherhood.

They took him away from her.

They were like Sansa and Jeyne and Septa Mordance only worse.

They were kind and yet they still took him.

Arya doesn't know if she stops crying, but the grass beneath her smooths in her hands as she rests her head against the trunk of the tree behind her.

Her eyes close as the moonlight washes over her and somewhere in the distance, she hears a wolf howl.

* * *

It was Gendry who she ran away from and Gendry who finds her.

She was the smallest thing, but curled up against the tree, he thinks she might actually become a part of it.

After a while when she hadn't returned from their argument, he told the others he would go find her.

It didn't take him long to do so but he didn't want to wake her.

He thinks it might be the only real rest she might have gotten these past few days after the hound escaped from the brotherhood.

It's only when the sun rises and the light of the morning sky breaks through the trees that he wakes her up.

"Arya." He says softly and he likes how her name molds with the morning mist as the dew on the leaves around them absorb every letter.

He nudges her gently and she stirs before turning on her side, now facing him. Her cheeks were red and a little puffy surely from crying and he felt guilt clawing at his heart.

"Arya." He says a little louder and her eyes open slowly.

She blinks them a few times and rubs the sleep away before she sits upright and realizes it's him.

She looks at him and he knows he hurt her but couldn't she understand?

She turns her gaze to the water in front of her.

"Sleeping out in the woods isn't smart."

She glares at him, "Sleeping out in the woods is all we've ever done-"

"Alone, I mean." He narrows his eyes at her.

"Somebody could have taken you." He adds after a moment.

"Oh what does it matter if somebody had taken me? It makes no difference to you. No. You're staying with your family-"

"Arya."

"The brotherhood, who're so much better than I am. Much kinder company-"

"Arya, that's enough."

"No I don't think it is. Or maybe it might be. I clearly don't know. Just a few nights ago I thought I was enough but I was wrong about that. So maybe I'm wrong about this too."

His eyes were blown wide and before he could say anything, she was up again and marching towards the inn, where the rest of the brotherhood was.

He moved abruptly and followed after her.

"Arya." He spoke from behind her and when she didn't turn around, he gently grabbed her arm and spun her to face him.

She was so little. Any other day, he'd tease her over it, but right now it only broke his heart.

"What?" She spoke bitterly. He'd seen her angry before, but that wasn't what this was. This was the effect of thinking he didn't care about her.

"Arya, it's not that you're not enough. You are, more than. You always have been. It's me that's not enough, M'lady."

Her heated gaze began to cool with slight understanding.

"Gendry-"

"No, I need you to understand. If I went with you, they'd never let us be friends the way we are now. If I served your brother, it's all I'd ever do. We'd be separated and our stations would be made more apparent than ever."

Her features were softening and he placed his hands on her shoulders. He saw tears forming in her eyes.

"It's not fair." She mumbled and he nodded.

"No. It's not. But don't mope around thinking for a second that I'm staying with them because I like them better than you."

She sniffled and rubbed her nose, "You don't like them better?"

Gendry jabbed her shoulder and threw his head back, "Come on, Arry. Of course I don't. You're my friend, my real and true friend. The brotherhood came after."

Arya gave him a small smile and he smiled back.

"The brotherhood came after." She repeated more to herself than him.

"Exactly. Now come on. I took an apple from Anguy for you, so we better get back if you want to eat it."

She laughed and walked forward and he smiled.

He felt his heart lurch with the realization that they'd never do this again once Thoros and Beric brought her to the twins.

He shook the thought away and followed after Arya who was entirely joyous about eating the apple he had stolen for her.

* * *

She thinks that maybe if she ran away, she would have found them. Her mother and Robb. She would've found them and none of what Thoros and Beric were saying would be true.

The days before this one had passed seemingly uneventful but today more than made up for the lack of events.

She felt her heart break ten times over.

"Princess?"

Arya only shook her head back and forth.

"You're lying."

It was the first time she'd ever seen Thoros look remorseful.

"I wish I were, princess. All the same, we cannot take you to the twins. The Frey's will keep you or kill you, same as they did to your mother and your brother, King Robb."

Arya felt a stinging in her eyes but she willed herself not to cry.

"But I, I have to go. I have to. My family, they-"

"Aren't with us anymore, princess," Beric spoke softly, "You however are. You are here with us. We won't risk your safety."

Arya glared at them as she felt anger boil in her, "Since when have you cared about my safety? This was always about a ransom."

Thoros and Beric looked at each other before looking at her. Thoros was the first to speak.

"This goes beyond ransom, princess."

Beric nodded, "He's right."

Arya's glare lessened, "What is it?"

Beric released a breath, "We fear there may be an uprising among the Boltons."

Arya grimaced and Thoros nodded and pointed at her face.

"Exactly." He spoke.

Arya stayed quiet while she looked at the small fireplace that the Crossroads offered, trying to gather her thoughts.

After a while, she spoke, "So what now then? For me, I mean?"

Her voice was small and soft and they heard it crack at the end.

"We were thinking you might like to stay here at the Crossroads with us. Does that suit you well, princess?"

It was the first and only time she'd ever heard Thoros' voice sound so soft.

She nodded wordlessly.

It wasn't like she had anywhere else to go anyhow.

* * *

She didn't need to tell Gendry what was wrong.

He knew. Everybody knew.

It didn't stop him from carrying on as usual and looking out for her now more than ever and for that, she was grateful.

Everybody seemed so keen on asking her if she was okay and treating her like she was made of glass.

She appreciated the concern but it seemed overbearing after a while and all it succeeded in doing was remind her of the family she had lost.

But Gendry was the same. Gendry was constant and it made relief flood through her. He was angry and silent but she supposed he was angry on her behalf whenever she couldn't be.

Crying had taken her energy but over the course of the few weeks they spent around the Crossroads, she gained it back.

He became a little less angry when she told him she was staying with them, staying with him.

"I'm not happy that this is the way you have to stay. I truly am sorry, M'lady. You deserve better. I am happy I get to keep my friend however. I'll be here, whenever you need."

He had said this to her after she told him and it made her smile her first real smile since finding out the Frey's and the Bolton's had taken her family from her.

She doesn't let herself think too long about all that has gone wrong.

Instead, she focuses all her attention on the Crossroads and she ultimately decides that she likes the Crossroads.

It felt cozy whenever she was working around the kitchens with Masha and the cooks.

Exploring the grounds the Crossroads existed upon had been a common thing she had done before she was set to stay there with the brotherhood indefinitely.

It's something that gave her peace of mind and something she does even more of now, looking for food or flowers or Frey's.

The last bit not as often as the other two after she'd been warned by Thoros and Beric that they might suspect who she is if she got too close.

She'd go with them to Hollow Hill and they would hear what she would have to say about their plans and strategies and they even took her suggestions from time to time.

Her favorite thing that had happened was finding out Gendry had become a knight of Hollow Hill.

Her circumstances weren't the ones she had chosen to be in, but she was safe and for her friend, she was happy.

They'd spent time together the way they always had. They would go chasing after food together, they would train together and they fought like always. once by the stream.

She pushed him in and he pulled her with him, their anger long forgotten and in its place was laughter and splashing around.

She doesn't let herself think past living at the inn. She doesn't think about what would have happened if her mother and Robb were still here and she was with them.

Nothing would happen even if she did think of these things because they were gone and she wasn't. 

She was at the Crossroads and she finds she rather likes living there.

She likes it as much as she can at the very least and for now, it was enough.

* * *

On her 14th nameday, Masha makes sweet treats and the brotherhood goes hunting for extra rabbits. 

Anguy gifts her a bow and arrows of her own to keep so she'd have an easier time training with him. She thanks him and even gives him a hug he hadn't been expecting.

Thoros and Beric make her the first lady knight of Hollow Hill but tell her she can't go fighting with them until her 16th nameday to which she agrees a bit annoyed but a smile on her face all the same.

Lem gives her a handful of the flowers she told him she loved the most but couldn't find anywhere around the Crossroads. When she asked him about them, he told her he went riding three days ahead to find them deeper in the Riverlands and with Masha's help, kept them alive long enough to give them to her on her nameday.

It almost made her cry and she told him they were the most beautiful flowers she'd seen.

Tom sings her a song about a strong girl who was a beauty and braver than anybody in the whole of the seven kingdoms. When she tells him she doesn't know that song he tells her it's cause it's new and it's about her. 

He sings it all night and every time, she smiles to herself.

Jeyne and Willow give her an old dress of theirs that was a greyish blue with embroidered flowers on the hemline that no longer fit either of them for her to wear for the day and even though she prefers breeches and tunics, she knows it's given to her with care and thoughtfulness so she wears it and when Jeyne and Willow smile at her like they're seeing something they hadn't seen in a long time, it makes her glad she put the dress on after all.

It reminds her of Winterfell in the Spring and Acorn Hall with Gendry.

The last gift she receives is from Gendry when they walk into the woods outside of the inn and further by the stream.

Night was falling soon and they brought a few of Masha's sweet treats with them to chew on as they sat by the water.

The big tree by the stream had become a place of solace for her, a place she commonly went to whenever she felt troubled or like she didn't know where she was going or if she was missing her family and Winterfell a little more than usual.

It was where she went when she got upset and where Gendry always found her whenever they would argue.

He felt like it was the perfect place to give her his gift.

She's munching on a cake square and brushing off crumbs from the dress Jeyne and Willow had given her when he put her gift, hidden inside a grey cloth, between them.

She looked at him then looked down at the small thing between them, a faint smile gracing her features.

"That for me?" She asked, looking up at him.

He rolled his eyes but smiled, "No, I brought for the trees and the stream. Think they'd make more use for it than you," She shoves him and he laughs, "Yes, it's for you."

She lifted it from the ground and unwrapped it from the cloth. She hadn't been expecting it, not in the slightest. It was a necklace made of leather twine and off it hung a small, steel made direwolf charm.

She held it in one hand while her other hand flew to her mouth as she let out a small gasp.

"It's beautiful." She breathed out, her grey eyes wide and full of wonder. 

She smiles at Gendry, "How did you- I mean when did- where-"

Gendry cuts her off with a laugh, "I think you've forgotten, I'm a blacksmith, m'lady. I made it myself."

Arya smiled before the realization set in, "You made this? For me?"

Gendry's eyes soften, "Yes Arya."

"Where?"

"You'll be surprised to find out that forges exist outside of Kings Landing and Winterfell." He japes.

Arya rolls her eyes and shoves his shoulder.

"Stupid bull." She laughs.

He smiles before looking at the water in front of them then back at her.

"Do you like it?" He asks after a moment, hesitantly.

Arya's eyes smile before her lips do.

"Of course I do, Gendry. It's beautiful and so very thoughtful. It's Winterfell and it's you."

Her words hit him hard and he releases a breath.

Arya leans forward and wraps her arms around him in a hug.

"Thank you." Her words are muffled by his shoulder but he knew what they were and he smiles into her hair.

"You're welcome."

They pull away and she hands him the necklace before turning around and lifting her hair from around the shoulders.

He understands what she's asking and he drapes the necklace around her neck and ties the twine tightly before letting it fall on the back of her neck.

She drops her hair and turns around to face him, her grey eyes brighter than he's ever seen them.

"How does it look?" She asks.

_Stark. Pretty. Like you._

"Like a necklace." 

She laughs and shoves his shoulder, "You know what I mean."

He laughs too and nods, "It looks beautiful. You really like it?"

Arya nods and gives him a soft smile, "Yes, I do. My best friend made it for me."

It was _her_ nameday, so he wasn't quite so sure why _he_ felt like he was the one being spoiled but he thinks it might have a little to do with Arya.

Or a lot.

* * *

She takes all the time with Gendry she can get. 

Every day is like the first time realizing how handsome he is for her but she shakes those thoughts as soon as they come to mind. They were friends. The best of.

She wouldn't let her childish fantasies soil that. Besides, it wasn't like he looked at her that way. It wasn't like he looked at anyone that way. 

But he's so beautiful she's almost angry about it.

Angry because she didn't want to think those things, she didn't want to bother herself with the thoughts of liking a boy and- _liking a boy?_

This was Gendry, he wasn't a _boy._ And she certainly didn't _like_ him that way. 

He comes up to sit with her at one of the tables at the inn and he smiles at her, his eyes kind of amused and she wonders if he can read her thoughts.

Her eyes go a little wide but she decides ultimately that Gendry can't read her thoughts and maybe he's just happy to see her.

"Would you like to go on a walk with me?" She asks him as she carves an apple.

She meets his eyes and they're smiling. He nods his head and extends him arm, "After you, M'lady."

She snorts and shoves his shoulder lightly.

"Careful there, or you'll take me down." He says and she knows he's joking.

It would take three storms to take him down.

They step out of the inn after grabbing her bow and arrow and his hammer that he made a few moons back and both shout greetings at Tom and Thoros who were saddling up their horses.

They walk into the woods, listening to the words the trees were whispering back and forth to one another.

It was nice, walking with each other through the trees and grass. It was kind of like right before the brotherhood found them.

They stop somewhere in the middle and settle themselves on a log. She pulls out the apple and a few other treats she had brought along and tosses him a few.

"Thank you." He says and she shakes her head.

"No need. I'll always share my food with you." Her words are kind and soft and he knows they're true. They've always been true.

"I know." He smiles at her and she smiles back.

She felt that funny feeling rising in her chest and she turns her face from his, hoping he doesn't see the pink rising to her cheeks.

"Can you believe this is where it's all taken us?" She asks after a moment and he knows what she means.

He shakes his head, "Sometimes I don't believe it. All those nights worried for our lives and here's where we end up."

"Are you happy?" She asks him and he feels something flutter in his stomach. 

"Are you here?" He asks back. She nods her head.

"Then I'm happy."

She doesn't know what it was about those words that made her feel so cared about and so wanted. Maybe it was because Gendry quite literally told her she made him happy. Or maybe it was because Gendry was the one saying them.

Either way, her heart beat loud in her ears and she felt it in her fingers, in her stomach and in her toes.

He was looking at the pear she brought for them and was carving off the skin like the strange boy he was when before she realizes she's doing it, she leans over and kisses his cheek.

She leaves her lips on his warm skin for a moment before pulling away after the realization of what she's done sinks in.

It was just a kiss on the cheek. It didn't matter. It shouldn't have mattered.

But she felt his hands go still on the pear. She heard him suck in the air around them. She saw his eyes blow wide.

Was she trying to ruin everything? 

She looked at the apple in her lap, picked it up and took a bite out of it.

"Did you just...?" His voice trailed off at the end.

"I kissed your cheek Gendry." She tried to make herself sound as casual as possible and he couldn't understand it truly.

Didn't she know what that meant? Didn't she know what _she_ meant?

It wasn't something he imagined happening in all his time of knowing Arya. It was something he was ashamed he dreamed of happening moons after her 14th nameday. It was a kiss on the cheek.

Her soft, pink lips on his skin and her soft curls of brown hair brushing his ear.

It was a kiss on the cheek.

"That wasn't weird was it? I haven't made things weird have I?" Her voice was a bit hesitant. He turned to look at her, grey eyes all sparkling and blown wide.

The last thing he'd want is for things to be weird, so he shakes his head at her.

"Of course not, Arry. We're friends. It could never be weird with us." 

She smiles a small smile, "Really?" She asks a bit unsure.

He nods and smiles back, "Really."

And really, it was true. It could never be weird with them. It wasn't some grand thing, right?

Nothing grand, nothing worth talking about twice, right?

It was a kiss on the cheek.

* * *

The Crossroads, without Arya truly ever realizing it, had slowly become home. For the time being, while they all still went on adventures at least. The Crossroads was always where they'd go back to.

She had a room there.

She shared one with Gendry until after her 15th nameday, when Thoros shoved Anguy into a room with Gendry to give Arya her own space. She felt it was unnecessary but Beric gave her a look that let her know it wasn't an argument she was going to win.

She thought maybe it was for the better since she couldn't get her kissing his cheek out of her mind nor the desire to kiss him everywhere else from her heart.

The Brotherhood, despite their rough exteriors, were good company and on more than one occasion, soft for Arya.

They had grown protective of her, grown fond of the girl who had to sit by and watch as she lost all her family around her.

They knew the world was cruel, they just didn't know it would have so much cruelty in spades for the person they all soon came to think deserved it least.

Arya was kind and loud and resourceful and always eager to learn. She helped as best she could and found new ways around old problems.

She sometimes wondered if the difference of a day kept her from saving her family or losing her life.

The Brotherhood and especially Gendry were always there to remind her that she had been saved.

The Brotherhood felt for her, their hearts heavy and thick at the sorrow and grief that plagued a girl so long and they vowed to keep her as long as she wanted to be kept.

When they come back from one particularly long ride one day, they tell her all that they had heard, Thoros and Beric, all that they and the rest of the brotherhood found out while on their travels.

She feels sort of cheated that she wasn't the first to know, but she knows now so maybe that counts.

They'd heard that Jon Snow came back from North of the Wall, with a group of Wildlings by his side. They'd heard he was marching for Castle Black. They'd heard something of him being the King beyond the wall. They'd also heard news of her sister somewhere in the Eyrie.

It sounds a little too good to be true, but if anybody could be a king, she thinks Jon could be. He was loyal and understanding. Kind and loving. He was a fighter above all else.

And Sansa, well, if it's true what they were saying then she was happy to learn that Sansa was just as much a fighter as the rest of them.

Thoros and Beric tell her that it should be taken with a grain of salt and to not be too hopeful. She snorts and tells them she's already two steps ahead of them.

They also tell her that it was banner men for the Bolton's they heard it from and it sours the potential good news only a little.

They tell her they won't be able to march anywhere or take her North until they know for certain it's Jon and that she'd be safe and if she'd want to go.

She shakes her head and tells them she knows because it makes sense and besides all that, they were rumors. She couldn't afford to build a fantasy around something she hadn't yet known to be true or not.

So she carries on as usual. She knows if they find out anything more, they'll tell her but she couldn't afford to dream about what if. 

Not yet, at the very least.

Not when she was living there with the rest of them and Gendry and actually living and not just surviving.

The few years she's spent growing up and spending time with them she finds they're not that bad, only sometimes. She gets to spend all the time in the world with Gendry whenever they're not whisking him away on a hunt or a ride she can't go on.

She hides her annoyance by spending time teaching Willow how to use a knife and showing Jeyne her lousy, crooked stitches.

Jeyne tells her they're not all that bad and that they have character. It's the first time she smiles at her own stitching.

The days when they spend extra long on rides, she knows it's cause they're having fun. Those days used to be long and infuriating, but since they brought Ned Dayne with them to the crossroads a few moons back, they aren't as long.

Ned makes the hours go by fast, talking her ear off all about how he grew up working with Beric and telling her all these tales of how lovely Starfall is.

It would normally bother her, someone talking so fast and so much, but it doesn't because the more he talks, the closer she gets to seeing Gendry again.

She asks Ned on more than one occasion why he never goes on rides with them or hunts or to Hollow Hill and he smiles and tells her he'd rather help Masha work at the inn.

She doesn't doubt it for a second when she thinks on how many times he helps Masha in the kitchens and in the rooms.

She calls him a strange lord.

He laughs, "Why strange?"

"Most lords don't bother themselves with the work around their castles. My father did but that's different, that was Winterfell. Most Southern Lords are all.." She pauses looking for a word.

"Prissy?" He offers and she nods.

"Well, Lady Arya, I'd much rather be strange than prissy." 

It's strange, she thinks, as the hours wind down and days turn to weeks which turn to months, how little time she spends with Gendry with the more that time passes.

It's even stranger, she thinks, that in all that time, she knows more about Ned's days than Gendry's. 

She faults it to Ned, attaching himself to her hip whenever she goes through the woods or goes looking for rabbits or making soup for the sick at the inn.

She faults it to the brotherhood for never letting her go on rides with them anymore the way they used to and for keeping Gendry all to themselves.

Most days, these days, she's able to keep her feelings to herself. She doesn't want to come off overbearing and like the child everyone said she used to be. They were getting nearer and nearer to her 16th nameday and with each day that passes, she understands the world a little more and she's more mature and more wise than the last.

So she keeps her feelings to herself.

She keeps her feelings to herself whenever she sees Gendry and the Brotherhood laugh about something she can't hear. She keeps them to herself whenever she's speaking to Gendry but he gets pulled away by Anguy or Lem and he goes with them. She keeps them to herself when she sees Willow smile at Gendry the way girls who like boys smile at them. She keeps them to herself when he smiles back.

Ned is good, Ned is kind. She only knows the things about him that everybody knows and that's that he worked for Beric and he's the lord of Starfall. She doesn't care to know anything else so she doesn't ask him anything else and when she leaves the inn and he makes to follow her, she lets him know he shouldn't and he listens.

It's when she's going to the tree by the stream that she sees them there, Gendry, Willow, Anguy and Lem. 

It hurt and stung and she felt like she might have been overreacting but she tells herself she's not. That was where they went _together._ That was her safe place, her safe and quiet place and there they were, like a little family she wasn't meant to be a part of.

It drags her heart down and she feels her body heating with the anger and sadness coursing through her blood.

She stops keeping her feelings to herself.

* * *

Avoiding Gendry is an easy thing to do. He's always with the brotherhood most days and it makes getting away all the more easy. 

She doesn't expect him to notice, but he does. It surprises her, she thinks, that of all the times he notices she's not trailing after him anymore the way she used to, it's this time, when she's angry and hurt that he notices.

It seems like he's avoiding her too and like he's angrier all of a sudden ever since they'd heard that she might have family alive out there.

She doesn't know what he's mad about but she doesn't bother thinking about it.

She can't be mad at Willow, she can't be. She couldn't exactly blame her for looking at Gendry that way. He was handsome, anybody with eyes could see that and when he wasn't scowling or scaring people off with his glares, the things that came out of his mouth were enough to have ale shooting through your nose.

He was Gendry, so she knew why Willow smiled at him all the time.

She could be mad at Gendry though. Not for smiling back. Of course he would smile back, he cared for Willow and everyone else at the inn. She knew that's how he meant it, just a kind gesture.

So she wasn't mad at him for smiling. It was leaving her behind that she was mad at him for. 

Picking the brotherhood over her without hesitation each time and it brings her back to their first real argument every time. That's why it hurt, why it stung.

It was a reminder that this was what he had chosen and what she was set to see.

She was a little mad at the brotherhood. Or a lot. They took him from her, her best friend.

She shook her head at her own thoughts as she walked to the tree by the stream. She was days away from turning 16, she shouldn't be thinking the way a child thought.

It makes her more angry than anything but she lets the water in front of her clear her thoughts as she sits against the tree.

It was always easy to forget everything else when she came here, easy to forget about how many time the world hurt her.

Her hand raises to her neck and she clutches at the direwolf laying against it. She looks down and frowns. How did it all get like this?

She hears a twig snap to her left and her head shoots up immediately. She's met with unruly black hair and deep blue eyes.

His frown is there and she wonders how they got from enjoying their time with each other at the Crossroads to barely speaking a word to one another and not seeing each other in what has felt like years.

She stands up and walks past him, more into the woods.

"Arya." He calls from behind her and she stops.

It all seemed like too much, like her life was taken away from her and when she got it back it was taken all over again.

Why was _he_ mad at _her_? 

He avoided her, he picked everyone else over her and he came after her when all she wanted to do was be alone.

She felt tears in her eyes but she blinked them away and swallowed down all the hurt.

He walked up to her and turned her to face him. She kept her eyes trained on the ground.

"Arya, will you please look at me?" His voice was hard and it hurt that already he'd spoken more to her in this small moment than he had in weeks.

She looked up, her grey eyes sad.

"What?"

He felt his heart tighten in his chest at the sight of her. Had it really been so long since they'd spoken to each other? He could blame it on a lot of things. On the brotherhood for taking him on so many hunts and never bringing Arya. On Ned Dayne always chatting her ear off. On the news of her family being alive out there but he blames it on himself.

It's not like the brotherhood forced him to go everywhere with them, but it was easier that way. easier so that he wouldn't look at her and be reminded that she might actually be leaving the Crossroads, leaving the brotherhood, leaving _him._

And Ned Dayne was harmless. He talked anybody's ear off, anybody that would listen and Arya's bad luck left that being her each time.

He thinks about how much he might've missed these last few weeks from not talking to her. He knows she's mad at him. Knows it because she'd narrow her eyes at him whenever she caught his gaze. She'd go to bed without saying goodnight to anybody or to him at least.

"It's almost your 16th nameday." He spoke.

She rolled her eyes at him and he felt some of the tension lift.

"Is that what you've come to tell me?"

He shook his head, "No, I wanted to apologize for not spending as much time with you, for-"

"For picking them over me?"

His eyes widened, "I didn't pick them over you."

She shook her head at him, "Yes you did."

Whatever anger he had been putting aside was making its way into his heart, "No I didn't Arya. I just haven't been spending all my time with you like I used to. Besides, it’s not like you’re in much of a mood to care, you spend all your time now with Ned Dayne.”

She takes a step back and runs her hands through her hair.

This was going all wrong.

"Arya I-"

"You were supposed to be _mine,_ " She cut him off, her voice wavering, "You were _my_ friend, _my_ Gendry. And now you're theirs."

Gendry felt stunned by her words. He felt every nerve in his body fizzle with the sensation of Arya calling him _hers._ And now he'd gone and messed that up.

He couldn't help it though. It makes him think of Arya wanting him to go with her to Winterfell and he remembers that there's a chance she could actually be leaving him, there's a chance she'd ask him to go again but it'd be the same all over again. Couldn't she understand why he was angry? Couldn't she understand how unfair it all was? Couldn't she understand that her family would _never_ let them be? Never let them remain as the best friends that they had so quickly become, never let them sword fight or bicker or talk or _anything._

He wouldn't be subjected to a life of watching Arya slip away from him. He wouldn't be subjected to a life of watching her family force her into being somebody she wasn't meant to be, somebody she didn't _want_ to be.

He wouldn't.

He cared too deeply to sit by and watch everybody else fail to understand her the way he did and knowing he'd be powerless to do anything about it. He valued her too much to let her be blinded by her wanting him by her side always without really seeing that her world wouldn't allow it.

She was his best friend and quite possible the only person he has ever loved. He wouldn't let them take her away from him. It makes him think that if there's a chance of her family being alive out there, that was her choice to pursue, not his. So he's letting her go instead.

But how can he let her go when she says things like that? How can he put years on the road and at the crossroads together behind him? Secret conversations only had with their eyes? Smiles and laughs seen and heard only by each other?

How can he put the moonlight in her eyes and the caress of her brown hair behind him? The curve of her lips and the pink on her smooth cheeks, amplifying the olive of her skin?

How does he lock away every single thing he's ever felt when she's the only person who'd been able to make him feel them?

"I'll always be _your_ Gendry. Always. Not anyone else's. Never anyone else's. Alright?"

She tore her eyes away from his and looked at her feet on the ground beneath her.

"Arya?"

"Why aren't we the same anymore? Why have we been driven to avoid each other? I never see you anymore and you're supposed to be my best friend. I miss you."

Her voice cracked and he fell prey to the tears that had been building up in his eyes.

She sounded so hurt, so torn, so vulnerable and it was all for him.

"Arya-"

"Gendry please. Please, be honest with me, tell me why. I just, why do you always pick them?"

Tears had been flowing freely for the both of them and he heard them in her voice too, her words were watery and sad and he wanted to kiss away her pain.

"It was easier that way. Easier because I thought you'd leave me eventually. Easier because I didn't want to lose you, so I pushed you away instead."

Her eyes softened, "I'm not leaving the crossroads, I'm not leaving _you._ "

"But Arya, your family-" 

She shook her head and rolled her eyes, "You stupid bull, _you're_ my family."

"Arya-"

"Not until I know for certain that they're alive and even then, they can wait. Those were rumors Gendry. Rumors that they all heard about my brother and sister who are worlds apart. And by who did we hear those rumors? Banner men for the Bolton's? I don't trust them," She stepped forward and grabbed his hands in hers, " _You._ You I trust. With everything. With my happiness and my anger, my sadness and my love. I trust you with my life, Gendry. I'm not leaving you."

He squeezed her hands and looked down at them. Arya leaned forward and rested her forehead against his, their noses lightly brushing against one another.

"Arya, we can't." He hoped she could hear the pain in his voice, the longing and the wanting.

"I know." Her voice was sad but he knew she understood.

"Can we go back to normal? Can we not avoid one another and go on walks and sword fight and argue the way we used to? I meant it when I said I missed you." She spoke after a moment.

He pulled away and even though they couldn't go where they wanted, he dropped a kiss to her forehead before smiling down at her.

"Of course we can, M'lady." She smiled and they pulled away from one another before walking side by side towards the inn.

"I missed you too, you know." He spoke as they were walking past the trees.

She smiled his way, "I know."

* * *

Her 16th nameday was memorable. Probably her favorite one.

It was where she finally reached old enough to go on rides and hunts with the rest of the brotherhood and where she'd actually get to act as the first lady knight of Hollow Hill that they said she was.

It was also the one where Masha made chicken and vegetables and applecakes like the ones Rickon used to love so much.

More than all of that, it was the one where the brotherhood gave her the greatest gift she never thought she'd receive twice.

They told her they found it a few weeks ago but felt it would be more special if they gave it to her on her nameday, they said they thought it would make the day happier.

She cried as they place Needle in her hands as gently as Jon did the first time he gave it to her.

She hugged each of them and they all hugged her back, Beric and Thoros even kissing the top of her head affectionately.

She hugged Gendry the tightest because she got her Needle back and Anguy told her Gendry was the one who spotted it on their ride. 

That nameday was filled with the stories of Arya's nameday's growing up in Winterfell and her new favorite story of Gendry and the brotherhood getting Needle back for her.

She and Gendry spent time out by their tree and she gave him the sword Beric had given her and made him sword fight with her, telling him she wanted her first sword fight with her reunited Needle to be with a worthy opponent.

He laughed and they sword fought until the moon rose.

Her 16th nameday was memorable. Probably her favorite one.

* * *

Things had settled down after her 16th nameday. They were good and they really had gone back to normal.

Normal like Arya and Gendry pushing each other into the stream. Normal like Gendry glaring at Ned Dayne anytime he caught him staring at Arya with a look he knew all too well. Normal like him sneaking into her room after Anguy's dozed off and talking about the things they didn't get to talk about during the day and falling asleep in the same bed.

However she felt about him, she knew it wasn't going to go away. The effect of spending more time with him was liking him more and she didn't bother stopping the fondness in her heart from growing.

They were spending time together like they used to and since her 16th nameday had passed, they'd gone to Thoros and Beric demanding they let her go on rides and hunts with them the way they said they would once she turned 16.

Thoros and Beric exchanged an amused look with one another before agreeing to it and taking Arya with them whenever she feels like.

It was nice, they both thought, how pleasant things had suddenly become. How natural everything felt and how at home they both truly started to feel more than before because they actually had each other.

The rumors they'd heard months ago was all that they were. Rumors. She had faith that her siblings were alive out there somewhere after what Beric and Thoros had told her, but there hadn't been a peep since they'd last spoken of it so she hopes her siblings are just more good at hiding than she was.

She only lets herself think of them from time to time, only lets herself think of what they've had to do to survive when she's feeling sad but Gendry's there to listen. 

He lets her go on about Winterfell and Jon and her father and Nymeria. He listens when she talks about Bran and how he loved to climb and he wipes her eyes when the tears fall for him and Rickon. 

He tells her that she's a Stark, that she's strong and she always used to call herself a wolf. She laughs and tells him that she has the wolfblood in her.

It works every time. It makes her feel a little less sad and reminds her that her family is out there surviving somewhere the same way she is. It makes her grateful for all the Starks that had been and all the Starks that have yet to come because she knows they didn't die in vain, they didn't because she was there. She was living proof of it.

Things had settled down and she feels at home at the crossroads, at home living and not just surviving.

* * *

There are days when things don't always go so well.

Days when Ned Dayne decides he should tag along on hunts and rides even though he _never_ had before and they both start to wonder why.

She asks him when they're saddling up their horses and Gendry's counting arrows with Anguy.

"How come you've started to come on hunts and rides with the brotherhood?"

He looks at his horse nervously than back at her, "What do you mean?"

"I mean you never used to before." She looked at him funny and he lets out a laugh before smiling at her his perfect, lordly smile.

Gendry rolls his eyes and drops a few arrows on the ground.

"They just didn't really seem all that interesting before was all."

Arya shook her head, "And now they do?" 

He stares at her for a bit and she has to look away because his eyes weren't the blue ones she was used to.

"Yeah, now they do."

Gendry glares at Ned from behind before stalking over, "We'll be leaving soon, enough of your jabbering."

Arya watches Gendry walk away with a scowl on his face and she shakes her head. What was his problem?

They ride further into the Riverlands, looking for herbs and fruit and whatever else Masha may need for the inn. It wasn't a day to go looking for enemies and Arya wouldn't know if they'd be able to handle it anyhow with how mad Gendry seemed just out of nowhere.

Ned was the one who got it worst, cutting his eyes away from Gendry whenever he'd send a glare his way or making sure to stay out of his way so that Gendry wouldn't knock him over. But Gendry wouldn't knock him over, no matter how annoyed he seemed.

It wasn't Ned Dayne's fault he was so damn annoying with his pretty smiles and lordly tales.

It certainly wasn't his fault Arya was easy to talk to. She was kind and patient and she made friends with just about anyone.

On their ride back to the inn, everybody was laughing about something but he was too in his thoughts to take notice. He was more focused on getting all the supplies into the inn and putting the horses back where they went.

It was something he did often when he was mad. He busied himself to avoid other people, busied himself so he wouldn't get in any fights that he didn't need to be getting in.

He might have been upset about Ned Dayne being Ned Dayne, but he was upset with himself for letting it bother him. 

So what if he was a lord? So what if he made Arya laugh? Everybody made Arya laugh, that was why Lem always told his jokes to her first.

It wasn't like anything could happen with him and Arya. She was a lady. Ned would be more of a fit for her than he would be anyways.

The scowl he worked off his face worked its way back and he understood now perfectly why he was mad about everything else.

The thought of anybody else knowing Arya better than he did was just one that didn't sit well with him. 

What could anybody else know about Arya that he couldn't know or that he didn't already know?

They were best friends and he might even say they were family at this point, spending more than two years with someone does that he thinks.

After he gets everything in the kitchens and exchanges a few short words with Thoros about their next meeting at Hollow Hill, he walks out of the inn and walks into the woods by the log where Arya first kissed his cheek.

He feels himself warming up at the memory and his rough hand gently brushes against his cheek, which was surely pink by now. 

It would be night soon, with the sun dipping low in the sky, and dinner would be served now doubt, but he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to care about that. 

He'd gone weeks without food before, what's one night?

He thinks of how he might get to spend some time at the forge in a few days and really be able to beat his anger away at something he's good at.

He thinks maybe he'll make Arya something, maybe start making a new sword with a direwolf at the hilt just for her. A new sword to accompany her Needle. 

It makes him wonder what she would name the sword he was going to make for her.

He smiles to himself and thinks probably something stupid, like Bull or Acorn or something entirely and completely theirs.

He hears steps behind him and feels her sit beside him.

"I thought you might've come here when I didn't find you by the stream." She spoke.

He turned to look at her and she was kicking sticks towards the center, the makings of a small fire no doubt.

"We've only been here once." He said and she fixed him with a flat stare which pulled a small smile from him.

"It's the only other place that made sense. You missed supper."

He stared at her then got up and started helping her with the fire, grabbing to stones and smashing them together till they sparked along the twigs and branches in front of them, a small fire warming the space around them.

"I'll live." 

She snorted, "Why do you think I made the fire?"

"You made this fire all by yourself?" He looked at her, eyebrows shot up and she rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean. I brought you some rabbit, it's cold though so you'll need to warm it up in that fire in front of you."

His eyes rounded a little. He hadn't been expecting that but he thought it was sort of fitting that Arya never failed to surprise him.

"Thanks." 

She smiled, "My food is your food."

She unwrapped the rabbit leg and passed it to him already on a skewer.

After he supped (and he truly had underestimated how hungry he was) he tossed away the bone and wiped his hands on the cloth Arya had brought for him.

"Did you come all this way just to remind me I didn't eat?"

"What? I can't spend time with you outside of the inn and riding and hunting and-"

"And everything else?" He laughed.

She laughed before settling down, "I wanted to check if you were okay. You seemed upset earlier. Did something happen? Do I have to skewer someone with Needle?"

He laughed at the last bit but still felt discomfort rising in his chest. This wasn't something he really wanted to talk about with her or anyone.

How do you tell your best friend who you might feel a way you shouldn't feel about her that you were jealous because that pretty blonde lord at the inn was smiling at her?

He doesn't think he will, although he also knows Arya is undeniably persistent and won't drop it until she's certain he's being honest.

"I'm okay. Everything's fine."

Arya looked at him funny, "Are you sure? Ned seemed pretty worried, pretty scared." She laughed at the end.

His eyebrows furrowed together, "How awfully kind of Ned. He scares too easy."

He stood up abruptly and paced around the log, "What does Ned Dayne care about me for anyways? All he ever does is stare at you."

Arya stared at Gendry a little shocked and a little amused, "What?"

Gendry stopped pacing to stand in front of her and he rolled his eyes, "Oh don't act like you don't notice. Ned's always trailing after you like a lost pup."

"And what's the matter with that?" 

His eyes widened and she had trouble keeping her smile to herself.

"What's the matter? What's the matter? Arya you can't be seri- wait, do you like him?"

He felt anger building in his body and felt the heat of it coursing through his veins.

"What?"

"Oh that's it. That's why you don't see anything wrong with it. Lady Stark and Lord Dayne-"

"Gendry don't be ridiculous."

"Of course it wouldn't bother you if you have feelings-"

"Gendry stop."

"I can't believe I didn't-"

"Gendry!" Arya stood up and grabbed his face in her hands.

He felt the heat in his body simmer and his blue eyes were fierce but when they landed on her grey ones, they calmed and he felt warm where her hands were on his cheeks.

"Arya what-"

"You are so stupid, I don't have feelings for Ned."

"Arya."

"You know who I have feelings for, you stupid bull."

He released a breath between them, closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Arya we can't."

"Why not?" Her voice was breathless and he felt her hands land on the back of his neck while his held onto her by her waist.

"I might ruin you."

"I might let you."

For the briefest of moments, he felt her lips lightly brush against his before he pulled away and took a step back.

He opened his eyes and was met with Arya looking at her feet.

"I want to, I want _you._ But-"

"We can't. I don't know why, but I know what no means. I'll stop."

"Arya-"

"I'll see you at the inn."

She walked back and he knew when she wanted to be alone so he let her be. He smothered the fire and went back to the inn where only a few were left awake.

He went to his room where Anguy was already sound asleep.

He usually slept easy, but that night he didn't sleep at all, the memory of Arya's lips brushing against his was enough to keep him awake for a lifetime.

* * *

She didn't know how she felt about it all. He said he wanted to, that he wanted her but it seemed all so confusing.

It wasn't like anyone at the inn would stop them from being together, not even like they could. They had no control over the matters of her heart and how she chose to pursue them and she'd sooner poke them enough with Needle if they'd even try to stop her and Gendry from doing as they pleased.

She knew how he felt about her, he all but told her. She knew how she felt about him, she stopped fighting it long ago and let her affection grow day in and day out.

She also knew that she wouldn't soil their friendship if he truly didn't want it to go there. She'd respect the boundaries he set, she'd respect him always.

So she doesn't bring it up the next day when they go riding into the town and he stops at the forge. No, instead she asks him if he plans on making anything and she sees the tension in his shoulders released because she asked him something that wasn't about the energy that was constantly shifting between them.

He tells her yes, he's making something special and he'd appreciate it if she left it that. She knows he doesn't mean it and he knows she won't leave it at that so they both smile to themselves when they're able to carry on the way they always do, as if they hadn't almost kissed the night before. As if they hadn't looked at each other longingly or smiled at one another when no one else was looking.

She goes into town and strolls around, stopping by the tavern Thoros and Anguy went to to steal some of their potatoes and then strolling back through town.

She finds Ned at a shop that sells bracelets and incense and herbs and all sorts of things. 

She snorts when his eyes light up at a bottle of scented orange and doesn't stay to chat when he begins telling her how nice all the jewelry in the shop would look on her.

As the hours wind down, she heads back to the forge there and sees Gendry still beating at the metal, only ever pausing to wipe sweat from his brow.

She walks to him and sits on the bench by him, letting him know they'll all be headed back to the inn soon and he nods in acknowledgement.

It's nice, whatever he's making. She's not sure what it is yet, but it looks like it could be sword and it's nice. He leaves it in a station the owner of the forge (who got on very well with the brotherhood) leaves separate for him and every time they go back into town, he works at the forge and it lasts days.

She thinks maybe he's pouring himself into blacksmithing because he doesn't want to talk about what happened, which was fine with her. But she doesn't know how making a sword seemed more important than talking at all.

But she doesn't say a word, because she knew Gendry and she knew soon enough they'd be talking and that he'd be done making whatever it was he was making.

It's not until their last day riding into town that he finishes making it and it was coming out perfectly. 

Ned Dayne still trailed after her and she still ignored him, only ever speaking to him if it wasn't about what he thought of her.

Thoros and Beric made sure of gathering enough supplies and enough food and resources from each trip they made into town to bring back to the inn and to take with them every time they went hunting, whether it was for food or for their enemies.

They bring all they have back to the inn and when they settle for the night she goes where she always goes and makes herself comfortable by the stream.

She knows he'll come soon, he always does. Not cause he thinks she's upset. She's not upset, not anymore.

She wanted him and he wanted her but for the time being, all she could get was their friendship and she'd be damned if she ever thought that wasn't enough.

She leans forward and runs her fingers through the stream and when she looks up, he's towering over her, something wrapped in cloth in his hand.

"Thought I'd find you here."

"I knew you would."

He sat beside her and smiled, "I'm sorry."

She looked at him confused, "What are you sorry about?"

He sighed and scratched his head, "I just-look Arya. You mean a lot to me, truly. You are this incredible person, so kind and brave and strong and I don't deserve-"

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence." She narrowed her eyes at him and he looked her with his own glare.

"It's true."

"No, it's not. And I'll keep saying it until you believe it, until you sing it in your sleep."

He let out a little laugh, "All the same. You should know it's not you, it's never you. It's always me and what I think and I just- here."

He passed her the cloth and what was in it and it was very heavy.

She unwrapped it carefully and felt her breath catch in her throat.

"Gendry, it's beautiful." Her eyes were wide with wonder and she could not believe he had actually made this for her. Another sword to call her own, a sister for her Needle, with a direwolf at the hilt of it.

It was slightly bigger than Needle, but not so much that she couldn't use it the same. It just made whoever was at the other end of the sword really wish they weren't.

"Thank you. I've spent a lot of time on it."

She looked at him suddenly, "Is that what you've been making all these days?"

He nodded his head sheepishly and she smiled.

"Why are you always making me gifts?"

He laughed, "Well I wouldn't be a very good blacksmith if I didn't put my smithing to use now would I?"

She shook her head and put the sword down between them before hugging him.

"You truly are the best person I know, Gendry. One day you'll see yourself the way I see you. It'll be magic."

He wrapped his arms tighter around her and kissed the side of her head.

They pulled away after a while and she began to test the weight of it.

"Are you going to name it?" He asked her as she slashed at the air.

"Already have." She smiles.

"Well, lets hear it then." He clasps his hands together.

"Waters." 

He felt his heart beat in his throat and felt his eyes burning, "What?"

She looked at him and grabbed his hand in her own, "Waters."

"Waters, after..?" He trailed off.

"After you, the best blacksmith and the best friend in all of the seven kingdoms," Her voice was gentle and he wanted to kiss her.

"And because it's so swift." She added and he laughed.

"Waters and Needle. Like a poem." He said. She nodded.

"Like a poem."

* * *

She was done for, she knew she was. After he made her that sword and looked so genuine and vulnerable and sweet the way she'd never seen him before and she knew it was all because of her.

They'd gone back to Crossroads after that and days had passed where she would always hug him and say thank you or they just wouldn't speak about it altogether and carry on as they normally had.

Today was not a day where they spoke about it. Today wasn't a very good day at all, for Gendry at least.

Willow had asked Arya where she got her new sword from and she told her Gendry made it for her. Willow's eyes lit up as she touched the sword delicately.

Willow said Gendry must have worked hard because he made the sword as beautiful as she was. It made Arya smile in a way she never had before.

But that was good, that wasn't bad. 

No, what was bad was how much Ned had to say about it, about how Arya already had a sword so why would she need another, about how did Gendry find the time to make it. How Ned felt his opinion on the sword that _he_ made for Arya was worth something was entirely beyond Gendry but he didn't like it.

He didn't like it when all of the brotherhood stood around the inn, talking about seemingly any and everything to then talking about his sword.

It wasn't their sword to talk about, it was Arya's. She made that much clear when Ned asked her about it.

"It's a gift, an entirely lovely gift and one made just for me."

Beric smiled at Arya, "Don't you worry yourself, princess. Ned here is just getting a kick out of things."

Arya smiled at Beric and Thoros nodded at what Beric had said, "Yes, what Beric said. Ned here is just our sweet estranged lord but we love him so." 

Anguy and Lem chuckled at the funny voice Thoros used and Tom only smiled at the scene unfolding before him.

Ned laughed richly, "Well better to be an estranged lord than a smith's apprentice."

Gendry cut his gaze from Ned's to Arya's.

His expression was hard and she knew he was letting everybody see the fury brewing in his eyes.

She was the only one he let see the softness behind them though.

Without a word, he cut his gaze to the door and stormed out of the room, past Ned and the rest of the brotherhood but not Arya. Never Arya.

Arya made to follow after him before glaring in Ned's direction.

Ned's eyes widened and he raised his shoulders up to his ears, "What?" He asked innocently.

Arya shook her head, her grey eyes fiercer than the wind that was dancing outside, around the crossroads inn.

"That was unkind. You know it was."

She knew words so harsh could never leave Ned's mouth, but she also knew he wanted to impress her. She knew that he wanted her to like him and he thought making japes at Gendry would get him there.

He didn't know how wrong he'd been.

Arya moves deftly between all of the brotherhood, making sure to grab her bow and arrow that Anguy had gifted her and went outside across the yard and towards the small patched forest lined side by side with the crossroads.

She walked a little further in, until she was in the thick of the forest and she heard the beating of metal on wood.

Her expression turned sad when she walked around and she saw Gendry striking a defenseless tree with a sword that belonged to Thoros or Beric no doubt.

She walked forward, making sure to step on twigs so the cracks would let him know he'd soon have company.

He kept striking the tree when she finally stood by him and he made no move to stop, so she just sat by the trunk of the tree near his and watched as each blow his strength made with the tree took out more bark, slashed it fast and nastily.

He was sloppy and she knew it was because it was a sword and not a hammer, because he was angry instead of happy, because he was reminded of what Ned was and what he wasn't.

"You'll hack that tree down soon enough if you keep beating it the way you are." She spoke and he huffed out a breath in response.

"You know, you should practice your archery." Arya said after another moment.

Gendry grunted and paused before looking her way, sweat sliding down the crease of his brow and then he resumed striking the tree again.

"I don't use a bow and arrow, you know that." He responded, his voice rough and breathy from the exertion of energy.

"You don't use a sword either and yet here we are. Apart from that, using a bow and arrow is a useful skill and you'll never know when you'll need it."

Gendry stopped striking and dropped the sword at his feet before turning to look at Arya sitting on the ground.

"Enough, Arya." The look on his face let her know he was about to correct himself and call her M'lady but the look on her face told him not to.

"What are you doing here?" He asked finally.

She eyed him before standing up and moving to stand in front of him.

"I'm here for you."

"Why?"

"Because you're angry." She said simply.

He rolled his eyes at her, "Do you go after everyone when they're angry?"

Arya shook her head, "No, just you."

"Why? Why just me? Why not everyone else?"

Arya glared at him and his hard face and his blue eyes and black hair, "Because!"

"Because what Arya!"

"Because I don't care about any of them the way I care about you! I only care about you!"

Gendry stood up a little straighter, his eyes clearing from the storm that was swirling in them to a more crystal color as they widened and he stumbled a step back.

"What?"

"I care about you stupid. I care about you a lot, the most." Arya moved forward and smiled a little to herself when she saw how flustered he had become.

"What Ned said was unkind-" She started before he cut her off.

"It was true."

"No! It wasn't! He wasn't kind. Gendry, he hasn't been through what you've been through. He's strong but he doesn't have any real strenght-"

"He's a lord."

"That doesn't mean he has strength! He has courage, sure he does. But he doesn't have strength, he doesn't have _your_ strength."

Arya put her hands on Gendry's shoulders and if he hadn't had his eyes on hers before, he definitely did now.

"Gendry, you do. You have both of those. You have courage and strength and loyalty and kindness. Do you remember what you would say to me whenever I would ask you to sword fight with me and you'd say no?"

Gendry's cheeks turned pink and Arya smiled because she knew he remembered.

"You would say no and that I didn't know how strong you were and you were right. I didn't know and neither do they. Nobody knows. You're the strongest person I've ever met."

Neither of them had noticed that one of his hands had landed on her waist while the other rested easily on the small of her back.

"You're stronger than all the knights in the stories, than all the princes and kings in the songs they sing."

Her hands moved up to rest around the back of his neck and she wondered if he felt the quickening of her pulse against his skin.

"What Ned said was unkind and untrue and even if it were true that matters none. You are Gendry and that alone matters more than anything else."

Gendry's eyes kept moving back and forth between hers and she didn't miss the way his eyes darted down to look at her lips.

He remembered how they felt against his cheek and how faint and soft they were when they lightly brushed against his.

She felt butterflies flapping their wings violently in her belly and she bit down on her bottom lip as the nerves ate away at her in the most delightful way.

At the sight of the contact that her teeth made with her bottom lip, Gendry's eyes looked back up at hers and she saw the blue in them darken, longing painting all around them.

Gendry rested his forehead against hers and she felt his breathing get heavy. It was different this time, they both knew it.

"Arya." He whispered her name in the air between them like a prayer.

Their breaths mixed together and she felt knots twisting in her stomach, warmth spreading through her and reaching from her head to her toes.

"Gendry." She whispered back and they both leaned forward at once, his lips catching hers.

She'd never kissed anyone before and neither had he, but neither of them had been able to tell.

His lips were warm and smooth against her own as they moved in unison.

It felt like all the right things in the world rolled up into one, like pleasure and delight flooding their senses.

He breathed her in and it was all his favorite things.

It was acorns and woods and steel singing and Arya.

He bit down on her lip the way he had seen her bite down on it earlier and smiled against her lips when he heard her little gasp.

He tasted like everything she didn't know she missed.

He tasted like sweets and winter and home and Gendry.

If they had known kissing would be this good, they would have been doing it sooner. He wouldn't have pulled away all those times his urges and desires seemed unbearable in her presence. He would have just kissed her the way she had wanted him to the first time they were in this position.

They pulled away when breathing became absolutely necessary and rested their foreheads against one another once more.

Their breaths mingled in the crisp air around them and she couldn't fight the smile on her lips.

"Are you going to keep striking that tree then?"

Gendry laughed unexpectedly and he held her closer to him.

"Really? You think I'm still angry, after that?"

Arya laughed lightly, "I don't know. You're always angry."

Gendry softened at her words, "Not with you."

Arya felt her breath quicken and she nodded her head against his, "Not with me."

She wrapped her arms tighter around him and rested her chin in the crook of his neck.

"If you need to keep striking that tree then you should. It sounded like music, the metal and the wood. You could keep playing your song. I'll just sit here and watch and listen."

He pulled away and looked at her, slightly amused, "You'll sit there and watch and listen?"

Arya nodded, "Yeah. However long you need. We can even practice archery."

Gendry smiled a small that he only ever let her see, "What if I'm here forever?"

Arya leaned her face closer to his, "If you're here forever, then here is where I'll be forever."

She closed the gap between them and he kissed her languidly with all the love he had for her that he always held back.

It was intoxicating and he couldn't come up with a reason good enough for why he was stopping them from doing this before.

Neither of them knew where they would end up a year from now or even ten but they like where they are now, so they like their chances.

They both knew for certain that they would stay by each other's side no matter what, that wherever they ended up they would end up there together, undoubtedly.

But they had time for the future, right now it was them, together. Right now it was laughing and kissing and holding each other and nobody stopping them from falling in love the way they had both wanted to for so long. Right now it was the Crossroads. Right now it was here.

Here is where her family was.

Here is them.

Here is Gendry.

Here is home.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!!!  
> My WIP's will be updated eventually, my mind has just been enjoying not writing haha and this was a result of me neglecting all my other fics el oh el.
> 
> Peace and Love,  
> ohnoshefell (I definitely almost wrote my real name and then backspaced haha)


End file.
